There are many sweet and beautiful children that have come home through domestic adoption. In many ways domestic adoption is relatively quick and painless as far as adoptions go, but we all know that there are also many twists and turns that can occur, and those traversing the road of domestic adoption do need to prepare as best as possible for those twists and turns. No two adoptions are the same, so one family’s story may be somewhat different from another’s.

During the course of a little over a year Sheldon and Amber, one of our amazing adoptive couples went through much heartbreak on their domestic adoption journey. As you read their story you will wonder why this heartbreak happened to them. Why they had to go through not just one, but two failed adoption matches before their precious and sweet bay girl finally came to their family.

Experience the sadness and disappointment as you read Sheldon and Amber’s story here, and celebrate their immense joy as their baby girl comes into their arms. Glean some wisdom, insight and inspiration from them as they share how despite the sadness, they are grateful for their broken journey, because God was able to show His faithfulness and share with Sheldon and Amber the beautiful tapestry of their lives He is weaving:

“In April 2013 we started our adoption journey. Our Home Study was completed and profiles ready to go. We signed up with an agency in Utah and had a rocky road in the matching process. We were matched with a birthmother in July but she changed her mind about us and was matched with another family. This was devastating and made us question what was wrong with us. Our case worker kept telling us there was a baby out there for us, but we had our doubts.

In August of 2013 our social worker (Tom) left the agency and we were soon forgotten within the agency. We became discouraged with the agency and decided to sign up with a private attorney who told us he would have something for us in a month or so. Meanwhile “Tom” called us and told us he had started a new agency and asked if we were interested in a profile presentation. We said yes. The birth mother eventually changed her mind about adoption.

November 2013 we are very discouraged with our choice in agency and private attorney. We contacted “Tom” and he suggested getting ahold of Deb with Mother Goose Adoptions in Arizona. He told us they were a good agency and had lots of successful placements. We filled out our paperwork and submitted it the week before Thanksgiving.

December 2013 we were officially approved to be presented with Mother Goose/Creating Christian Families. We presented on seven cases that month. We knew our home study was going to expire in March and decided that if we weren’t matched before then we would not renew.

January 3, 2014 we got an email saying we were matched with a birth mother due on March 12. We were very excited that we were finally chosen. We went to work updating our home study and clearances. We even decided to decorate the room for the baby boy. We knew there was no way she would change her mind.

In February we were getting closer to the birth, and we also had a vacation planned and went to Disney World. We received a phone call from the private attorney telling us he had a match for us, but we told him we were matched and were just waiting for the birth. The last day of our vacation things started to unravel with the match. Our birth mother stopped communicating with us and the only information received was through the agency. We suspected something was up and had Mother Goose start digging for some answers.

On March 3 we got “the call” from Deb. Our birth mother had been scamming us and at least another couple from California. All she wanted was money. She didn’t plan on placing and a lot of the information we had on her was a lie. Our hearts were crushed, and sadness and disbelief took over. How could this happen to us? Why did God want us to suffer through this pain? Were we really meant to parent another child? Could we afford to continue on after losing money on this? We prayed to our Lord and Savior and we got our answer: “Continue on, there is a child for you!” People kept telling us to continue on, that there was a baby out there for us. Friends and family prayed for us but the hurt was still there. Everyone kept saying there is a baby that needs you but we just didn’t want the hurt again.

March 19, 2014 Deb called and said the attorney we had worked with on the failed match had contacted her with a possible baby and wanted to know if we were interested. Of course we were interested, because we had presented on a few other cases but nothing came from them. We were presented to the birth family and then waited to hear.

On March 31, 2014 we were officially matched and waited for doctor’s appointment for a due date. We found out that the due date was the end of May. Praise God, we were matched four weeks to the day that our last one failed.

May 20, 2014 our beautiful baby girl was born. We couldn’t believe it happened. God is so good. We are so thankful to everyone who helped with this adoption.

This precious girl was worth the wait!

We are thankful our old social worker left the first agency we were with.

We are thankful the private attorney didn’t follow through with his promises.